Change of winter crops sown area in the zone of the special military operation of Russia (February 2022-present), as revealed by satellite data

Abstract

Russia's special military operation against Ukraine (SVO) has a significant impact on the socio-economic situation in the area of operation and adjacent regions. The impact on agricultural production is expressed in many cases in its complete cessation, but the exact extent of this is unknown. Based on the archive of Landsat, Sentinel-2 and MODIS satellite data, contained on the VEGA Internet service of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the dynamics of winter crops acreage in the area of the operation was analyzed. For this purpose, winter crop masks for the period 2018-2023, compiled on the basis of MODIS data, were used. Additionally, the delineation of zones with winter crops was carried out visually based on Landsat, Sentinel-2 satellite data obtained in late fall and early spring. It was found that in the 2022/2023 season, winter crops decreased significantly. Compared to the season before the SVO, winter cropping areas decreased in the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic by 30%, in Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts almost unchanged, in Kharkiv oblast of Ukraine decreased by 50%, and in Dnipropetrovsk oblast - by 20%. The area of winter crops in the Republic of Crimea increased by 40%. The territory of area reduction is clearly confined to the zone of confrontation between Russian and Ukrainian troops. The winter crops in other regions of Ukraine and Russia have not been significantly affected by the SVO at the moment.